160 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Diagnosis, — Body elongate, strongly compressed, the depth more than twice breadth and 

 .9 length; jaws long, slender, twice length of remainder of head, upper jaw with an upward 

 curve at base; maxillary covered by preorbital; eye .4 length of postorbital part of head; scales 

 minute, over 500 in lateral series ; a fold of skin across preopercle ; dorsal fin falcate, beginning in 

 advance of anal, the rays i,24; anal fin falcate, the rays i,25; caudal deeply forked; pectorals 

 long and falcate; ventrals inserted nearer to anterior edge of eye than to base of caudal. Color : 

 green above, silvery on sides; no lateral stripe; fins black-tipped; young with dark blotches. 

 (hians, gaping.) 



The normal range of this gar in the Atlantic is from Florida to Brazil, but 

 stragglers have from time to time been reported to the northward as far as Massa- 

 chusetts (whence the present writer recorded the species). The first North 

 Carolina record was that of Dr. Jenkins, who reported the species as common at 

 Beaufort in 1885, not being distinguished from Tylosurus marinus by the fisher- 

 men. A specimen 14 inches long was taken atBeaufort in the summer of 1903, 

 and in 1905 various others were caught in a pound net in the harbor: 1 August 11 , 

 and other August 21, and 5 young August 23. The maximum length attained is 

 about 3 feet, and the habits are similar to those of the related gars. 



Family HEMIRHAMPHID^. The Half-beaks or Balaos. 



Small shore fishes, the typical forms readily distinguished by their greatly 

 produced lower jaw. The general shape is similar to that of the gars. Body 

 elongate, compressed; upper jaw short and forming a flexible, flat, triangular 

 plate; lower jaw (in local species) very long and slender, with a membranous flap 

 below, toothed only at the base where it is in contact with upper jaw; maxillary 

 firmly united to premaxillary; teeth small^ tricuspid; gill-rakers long and slender; 

 lateral line placed low on side; scales large, cycloid, in regular rows; air-bladder 

 large; dorsal and anal fins small, on posterior third of total length; caudal forked 

 or lunate; ventrals small, posterior, placed nearer to anal fin than to gill-open- 

 ing; pectorals small. Species numerous, surface-swimming, and herbivorous; 

 some Old World forms are viviparous. Of the 4 American genera 2 are repre- 

 sented in North Carolina, and may be thus distinguished: 



i. Sides of body convex; air-bladder not cellular; ventrals inserted considerably in advance of 

 dorsal; dorsal and anal similar and opposite Hyporhamphus. 



a. Sides of body flat, vertical; air-bladder cellular; ventrals inserted but little anterior to dorsal; 

 dorsal larger than anal and beginning anterior to anal Hemirhamphus. 



Genus HYPORHAMPHUS Gill. Half-beaks. 



Form slender, compressed, the sides more or less bulging; body scales 

 large, deciduous, top of head covered with large plate-like scales; dorsal and anal 

 fins low, and alike in size and relative position; caudal fin slightly forked or 

 deeply incised, the lobes of about equal length; ventrals very small, inserted 

 about midway between gill-opening and caudal base; air-bladder large and 

 simple; sides with a bright silvery band. Three or four American species, only 

 one of which ranges along our east coast. (Hyporhamphus. beaked below.) 



